


Wrapped in Fog

by timehopper



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Amnesia, Flashbacks, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Memory Alteration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-21
Updated: 2018-12-21
Packaged: 2019-09-24 09:31:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17098055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/timehopper/pseuds/timehopper
Summary: This is the first time he's fought Soldier: 76 face-to-face....Isn't it?





	Wrapped in Fog

**Author's Note:**

> My Secret Santa gift for [Ashe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsheRhyder/pseuds/AsheRhyder)! Also my first Reaper76, officially. Hope you like it!

Reaper is cornered, backed against a wall. He stands mask-to-mask with Soldier: 76, shotguns scattered across the floor, yanked and torn from his hands as soon as he could summon them. The vigilante’s pulse rifle has long since been abandoned as well, and they fight now with nothing but their fists.

For every punch he throws, Soldier: 76 has one to match. It’s strange, fighting someone so evenly matched with him, when normally Reaper is able to dominate anyone who gets in his way. He is confident in himself, perhaps too much so, but that steady confidence at last wavers when Soldier: 76 nearly gets a hit on him.

It’s like the man can read him. It sets his teeth on edge.

Something about this is… familiar. Like he's done this before, like he's had this same fight with the same person, but he knows that can't be. This is the first time he's met Soldier: 76, isn't it? It's far from the first time the vigilante has caused problems for him and for Talon, but they've never met each other face-to-face like this.

...Have they?

He hesitates for a moment, unsure of himself, and that's all the opening Soldier: 76 needs to shove into Reaper and force him to the ground. The vigilante settles all his weight on top of Reaper, shoves a knee into his sternum, and pulls out his sidearm to press it to his jaw. In the half-second that Reaper still tries to comprehend what's going on, Soldier: 76 reaches down and tears the skull mask from his face to throw it aside.

"Yield," Soldier: 76 barks. "Or I'll shoot."

Reaper snarls. He grits his teeth and starts to dematerialize, to let himself turn to smoke and slip away, but something stops him.

There's something there. Something about this man, about the gruff way he speaks, like he's growling or barking out his words without meaning to. Like years of yelling  

 

_It was so hard to hear him over the gunfire and explosions, but Gabriel didn't really need to hear the words to know what the other man was trying to say when he felt a big, strong hand squeeze his own._

 

had grated on his vocal cords.

"This isn't you," the man says. "I know it's not."

Reaper glares up at him. He sees the tendrils of smoke wafting up from his own body curl around the other man's mask. He reaches up for it, hooks his claws around the latches. "What do _you_ know?"

He pulls. The mask comes free and Reaper drops it, letting it clatter to the ground. The sound echoes out and Reaper stills, goes cold - colder than usual. He looks up into the face of Soldier: 76 - the face of - of -

He doesn't know.

But there's something there. There's something prickling in the corners of his mind almost like recognition. Like he _should_ know who this man is. Like he knows those eyes, boring down into his, searching for something. Maybe even the same something Reaper himself is searching for.

But it’s fog. Mist. Wrapping around his mind, licking at its corners like the smoke that swirls around and inside his body.

How fitting.

He reaches up and traces over one of the scars on the man's face, the clawed fingertip of his glove leaving no mark as it drags along its length. He wonders if he was the one to give this man those scars. He could have been. Easily.

 

 _There's fire. An explosion. Rubble everywhere, but he can't go back to dig through it and save the lives of the people buried beneath. He can't go back for his friends. Can't go back for_ **_him_** _. Can’t go back for Ja--_

 

The man's eyes soften. He's in pain. Reaper doesn't care. He's too transfixed by the way Soldier: 76's eyes follow the movement of his hand. How stupid he looks, going cross-eyed just for a better look.

Reaper retracts his hand and watches. Waits. He doesn't understand why his heart is beating so fast. Why he feels _warm_ all of a sudden, like the weight of Soldier: 76 pinning him in place is a comfort rather than a threat.

Maybe that's why he hasn't tried to get out from under him. Why he hasn't turned to smoke and wrapped himself around the man's neck

 

_"Gabe, careful. You're - mmm... gonna leave a mark."_

 

to strangle the life out of him.

It feels like hours that they stay there, completely still. Reaper searches the man's face, every wrinkle, every drawn line of it. There are answers in his eyes. On his lips.

Maybe that's why Reaper kisses him.

He leans up and kisses the vigilante, closing his eyes because for some reason, it just feels right (how can it feel right?). And it's like fire enveloping him, like electricity coursing through his veins, like a bucket of ice water being dumped over his head and soaking him through, all at once.

The smoke dissipates.

And he remembers.

 

 _Gabriel ran back to the rendezvous point, grin spread wide over his face and heart thumping in his chest. He saw_ **_him_** _, at last, nothing more than a shape on the horizon, and then suddenly there he was, running, and then he was there, gathering Gabriel up in his arms and kissing him like he thought he'd never see him again._

 

He remembers.

 

_Rough fingers traced down the length of his chest while soft lips kissed and sucked at his neck. He buried a hand in short, just-cut blond hair and tugged at it, coaxing him on. "Get on with it already," Gabriel whined, a tinge of laughter dancing around the edge of his voice._

 

He knows this man.

 

_Fingers clenched in the sheets beneath him. His brows knitted together and his eyes squeezed shut as a soft moan rose from his throat, strangled, as if he were trying to hold back. Gabriel leaned down and pressed a kiss between his bare shoulder blades. "It's okay, Jack. I've got you. I've always got you."_

 

Jack. Jack Morrison.

 

_Jack felt heavenly around him. Suitable, considering how angelic he sounded moaning and gasping as he twisted and writhed beneath Gabriel. It was almost a shame when he muffled himself by pulling his lover's lips down to meet his own._

 

And _he_ -

 

_They fell to the bed together, one on top of the other in a mess of sweaty skin and tangled limbs. Gabriel buried his nose in the crook of Jack’s neck and inhaled, letting himself get lost in the scent of the man he loved. He could hear Jack laugh._

_“Gabe,” he said, quietly, a hand coming up to rub his back. There was a smile in his voice, and Gabriel thought he had never been happier than he was in that moment. “Gabe, I…”_

 

He is - was - _is_ \- Gabriel Reyes.

 

_"Akande tells me you ran into some trouble a few months back in Egypt."_

_Moira's drawl was as calm and smooth as ever. She sat at her desk reading over a file - his file - and gestured for him to sit on the chair across from her. "Something about sentimentality and old soldiers. I'm sure you can fill in the gaps."_

_She put the file down and smiled up at Gabriel, fake sweet to hide her excitement. Her fingers steepled and she leaned forward, too excited to restrain herself. "If you would like my assistance, I'm sure I can find a way to make sure that it doesn't happen again."_

 

And he hadn't had a choice.

 

_Moira plunged the syringe into his arm. Out of the corner of his eye, Gabriel caught Amelie - no, Widowmaker - watching as the anesthetic slowly began to course through his veins._

_"There. In just a moment, you will be well on your way to forgetting."_

_He watched an impossible flicker of emotion - of horror - cross Widowmaker's face._

_No, he corrected himself. Not Widowmaker's face._

_Amelie's._

 

He pulls away from Jack's lips slowly and opens his eyes. Jack's flutter open, too, and they stare at each other a moment. It’s a long moment, in which neither of them speaks, but they can hear the words in their heads - in their hearts - anyway.

Finally, Reaper - _Gabriel_ \- breaks the silence with a fragile whisper: "Jack."

And he swears Jack is about to cry. Jack hasn't cried in _years_. Maybe decades. Something about this, about the man he's loved more than half his life, about to cry with relief while holding a gun to his head, makes Gabriel laugh.

It's loud and uncontrollable, sounding foreign even to Gabriel. He hasn't laughed like this in years. Reaper does not laugh like this. His laughter is cold, forced, the product of a persona he has forced upon himself. But this - this is real, this is _him,_ and for the first time in years, Gabriel feels like himself again.

And in spite of himself, Jack laughs too. He laughs, raucous and free, and it occurs to Gabriel that perhaps he hasn't been the only one acting his part for this long.

Eventually, they stop, and Jack slides off Gabriel's body to sit next to him. He reaches out, hesitant, to take his old lover's hand, and Gabriel meets him halfway.

“You know I’ll have to go back, right?”

“I know.”

Gabriel sighs and allows himself to lean to the side to rest his head on Jack’s shoulder. A hand comes up to rest on the crown of his head and just stays there, heavy and comforting. Smoke flickers around Jack’s hand, but does not try to touch it.

“I’ll be waiting for you.”

 

_Jack stood in the hangar, eyes roaming over the rows upon rows of caskets. Gabriel gave his hand one last squeeze before stepping away, off to Italy to seek justice for his fallen comrades._

_“See you later, Jack.”_

_Gabriel didn’t look back. He didn’t need to. He didn’t want to see the worry etched in all the lines in Jack’s face as they said their goodbyes._

_“I’ll be waiting for you.”_

 

There is no doubt in Gabriel’s mind that when the time comes, when Talon finally falls, finally pays for all they have done, Jack will be by his side. But until that day comes, he must return to his cover. Until that day, he will carry with him the comfort of knowing Jack has forgiven him. That he's still here.

He will go back with a full heart and a renewed drive to end this war at last.

“See you later, Jack.”

And Gabriel will never allow himself to forget again.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this and would like to see more, have a chat, or find out how to support me, please check out my twitter [@tim3hopp3r](https://twitter.com/tim3hopp3r) or follow my writing blog [@intim3ate](https://intim3ate.tumblr.com), where I post progress, WIPs, and take requests.
> 
> If you would like to find out how to support me, I have a handy list of links right [here](https://twitter.com/tim3hopp3r/status/1122210346939244544). Please check it out! I wouldn't be able to do this without people like you supporting me. ♥
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


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